At the conclusion of last year's San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced that Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali will take on the title role in Blade. Yesterday, we learned that the hunt is on for writers, and Ali himself has now opened up about playing the Daywalker.
Revealing that he's been interested in playing Blade since starring in Luke Cage back in 2016, the actor explained how he campaigned for the role and what that ultimately led to.
"So, I did this Marvel show for Netflix called Luke Cage, right? And so in doing that show, the day it premiered I had turned to my agent and I had said, what are they doing with Blade? Because I kept hearing that they were trying to find a way to remake it and put it back together, and it was exciting for me to get to be in that Marvel space in TV, but for me my goal had always been film."
"But also being able to participate in television in very specific ways that had real meaning, but my larger goal was to be able to really navigate between film and television, and so I turned to my agent and I said you know, what're they doing with Blade?" he continued. "And he goes I check on it, and so there was this long process of them speaking about, at least in the television division, really wanted to make it a TV show again, but not necessarily, trying to acquire the rights still, and some thing's kinda going on, so it took a couple of years."
Ali went on to reveal how Wesley Snipes inspired him, noting that "I definitely had a connection, at least in my mind, to Wesley Snipes going way back to high school when people used to joke and say we looked alike, and all this stuff." However, he added that, "It was really my participation in Luke Cage that sparked the idea, married with being so inspired by Wesley Snipes' work."
As for what it is about Blade that appeals to him, the actor said: "I really wanted to take on that role, and tackle that, and also...I love that it's darker, that's all in terms of tone, he's a little bit darker than some of the other ones, and so that element was attractive to me."
We don't know when Blade will be released, but it's a movie that's bound to be a huge part of Phase 5.
Check out the full interview below: